My painting of Guru Amar Das ji highlights Ram Naam in action.
When we are talking about Ram Naam, we are talking about Responsible Actions and Meditation, Seva and Simran.
While I was painting Guru Amar Das ji Maharaj, I wanted to show Guru ji in a state of tranquility, and show how his profound sense of peace and total freedom spills out into everything he does.
This is seva.
Guru Nanak Dev ji ki bani –
ਧੌਲੁ ਧਰਮੁ ਦਇਆ ਕਾ ਪੂਤੁ ॥ ਸੰਤੋਖੁ ਥਾਪਿ ਰਖਿਆ ਜਿਨਿ ਸੂਤਿ ॥
Dharma is the son of Compassion, and together with Patience, it maintains the world.
Guru Nanak Dev ji says that Dharma or Responsibility is born of Kindness. Only that action can be considered Dharmic or Responsible, which comes from kindness, from compassion.
When Bhai Kanhaiya ji was feeding water to both the Sikh and Mughal soldiers on the battlefield, he did so out of compassion.
Compassion forms the basis of Seva.
When we are talking about Responsible Actions or Seva, and when we are talking about compassion, we must look at our lives and evaluate how responsible and compassionate we are in our day to day activities. This includes eating and what we eat.
When people think about Seva, they never think about eating. Eating is something we do 3 times a day. Many people eat less, only once a day. Many people eat more, up to 4-5 times.
One type of Seva is what we prepare for others. The other seva is what we choose to eat.
Ancient humans had to eat whatever they could find. But modern technologies have made survival much easier. Now that our survival is taken care of we can eat a little more responsibly.
What we eat can be Seva in itself.
We may say it is our personal choice what we eat. But we must understand that this “personal choice” has many victims involved.
These victims feel pain.
But their screams happen behind closed doors so we do not hear them. Their right to life is trampled upon, when we choose to eat them or what comes out of their bodies.
When we eat in a way where we don’t take their life and we don’t take what comes out of their bodies, then this is a great Seva.